The bat problem is horrible up here. Entire hibernation caves simply wiped out. Thousands of dead and dying bats littering the ground around the entrances. There is talk of no brown bats in the Northeast this summer. It makes me sad because I enjoy watching their acrobatics catching mosquitoes and other bugs in dusky summer evenings, doing figure 8s over the garden.

Everything in this world is inter-connected, every action has a reaction so who knows? We may have hit the threshold cumulatively..I'm not in the NE but I noticed the last couple years that there were not as many bats around me. It could be habitat loss here? :? Yes Kev, they are so interesting to watch, how they fly so much differently than birds. Fun right at dusk when the last birds are going in, bats coming out. I put up bat houses year before last but no bats yet..they may not like the location or maybe takes awhile for them to find em. I did get to smash 3 hornet nests starting up in em tho :-D Jody

Everything in this world is inter-connected, every action has a reaction so who knows? We may have hit the threshold cumulatively..I'm not in the NE but I noticed the last couple years that there were not as many bats around me. It could be habitat loss here? :? Yes Kev, they are so interesting to watch, how they fly so much differently than birds. Fun right at dusk when the last birds are going in, bats coming out. I put up bat houses year before last but no bats yet..they may not like the location or maybe takes awhile for them to find em. I did get to smash 3 hornet nests starting up in em tho :-D Jody

And yeah, they are way cool to watch. I used to love watching them follow my fishing lure when I night fished when I cast, or make turns on a dime and just float when they fly. very cool. I have four evrynite last year right over my garden. I hope they come back. This can be scary stuff.

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"The more complex the Mind, the Greater the need for the simplicity of Play".

JP I'm not a builder so I got mine off ebay, there are some good ones on there. Don't get the mesh inside though cause eventually it rots out & tangles em up, plain rough wood is the best. If you google bathouses there are tons of plans, actually look pretty simple. There are some basic dimensions to follow. I'm gonna get more this year & some of the bat lure..**waiting impatiently for my bees & bats to come...** ;) We have big & little bats,the bigger ones hang out closer to the river & I see the little ones around the houses.batsbatsbatsbeesbeesbeesbees!

It was quite cool to see those bat houses on line, I could see them entering those things. We have bats in my neighborhood, for yrs I see them at dusk and dawn. Bats are cool little dudes, very trippy creatures. I know a trapper that does bat jobs. I showed up on one of his jobs one day in New Orleans, saw little bats up close, they're just crazy looking lil critters, straight outta a horror flick, they intrigue me. Yes, Jody, bats/ bees, bats/ bees, me or the bats/bees take your pic, I've put up with the bees, now I have to put up with bats too! Yep, that's what she would say.

Did you get to touch em??? They look so soft & the wings fascinate me...he coulda held one with gloves & let you touch...what do their little feet look like close up?? How bout the eyes & ears?? Real live creatures are different than pics..**still impatiently waiting batabatsbeesbees**Jody

Did you get to touch em??? They look so soft & the wings fascinate me...he coulda held one with gloves & let you touch...what do their little feet look like close up?? How bout the eyes & ears?? Real live creatures are different than pics..**still impatiently waiting batabatsbeesbees**Jody

Jody, you know, I don't remember touching them , I don't think I did. Thats weird of me actually. I am one that touches and sniffs everything, my wife says I should have been a dog, oh well, sorry no tactile reports here. They were pretty cool though.

Another quick story about bats. I was invited yrs ago to make a hunt with this guy who liked to tell magnificent stories, he was a realtor that specialized in land sales. He often frequented an archery shop my friend owned, and told his magnificent stories there, aka E F Hutton style, not a sound in the room, he would command your attention. One day he invited me to make a quick hunt with him on a piece of land he was selling for a client. He would convince clients that it was good for he and guests to hunt their land and get pictures doing it so their land would sell faster.

So, I get this phone call, and I immediately call my friend, the shop owner, and acquire if its safe? He knew the guy through his shop dealings after all. He said, I'm not sure, I think so. Well, I decided to go. First thing I asked was, where will we be sleeping for the night? He replied, in a nice large house trailer on the property. Ok. When we got to the place on that friday night, there was a change of plans, and we were now to sleep in the truck. Why? Cause on Wednesday, he went up and visited with the land owner and a coyote ran outta a hole in the back end of the trailer. The same trailer we were to sleep in. We wound up sleeping, well he did, in the guy's truck. The sob snored louder than any individual on this green earth I have ever run across!

The next morning, I was placed in a stand, and at the crack of day light, the guy who owned the stand showed up pointing a gun up at me asking me what the hell I was doing in his stand on his hunting lease!!! Well, ever see a crawfish backpeddle!!!The guy and I worked things out after I explained to him that I was invited to hunt the field, he said, not the woods, we lease the woods! So, I was invited to hunt a field, and not woods! After my so called hunt was ruined, I got down to check out the large nice house trailer we were supposed to sleep in, of course before the coyote showed up.

Now, as you can guess by now, I am running on maybe a half hr of sleep, but I'm curious about the coyote trailer den, so have to have a look. I enter and yes it was a big trailer, and I'm looking around, and this thing has not been used in yrs!!! And we were going to sleep in this thing! Don't need to tell you that's the last trip I ever made with that dude!

Ok, what does this story have to do with bats? The trailer had bats in every room I entered, hanging from the ceilings, it was awesome!!! All these bats, and I could get right up close to 'em. Of course this made the whole trop for me, screw the deer, I got to see bats! Up close and personal.

Now one last thing. You do know that bats turn into vampires right? I made sure I didn't wake any of them up as I tip toed through the trailer. I would have taken pictures but the flash would have awakened them, and God forbid what that outcome would have been!

I wouldn't go with that guy again! I bet it smelled in there,,ewww! I woulda snapped a pic right as the door was closing to see what they would do :evil: Now JP, everyone knows that vampire bats only live in mouldering old mansions w/cobwebs everywhere & disturbing music!! Your bats were trailer trash bats! :lol: They woulda dressed you in lycra animal print, given you "big hair"! & cheesy-pouffs! :evil:Have a great one!!

I wouldn't go with that guy again! I bet it smelled in there,,ewww! I woulda snapped a pic right as the door was closing to see what they would do :evil: Now JP, everyone knows that vampire bats only live in mouldering old mansions w/cobwebs everywhere & disturbing music!! Your bats were trailer trash bats! :lol: They woulda dressed you in lycra animal print, given you "big hair"! & cheesy-pouffs! :evil:Have a great one!!

Jody

This was a hillbilly mansion on wheels and I've never heard of anyone ever outrunning a vampire! Cheesy puffs? Now we're talkin'!

The department of natural resources in Illinois also has a bat box plan available on line. If you search on google for "wood projects for Illinois wildlife" it should show up as the first link. I built it about 20 years ago and had some success with it.

The department of natural resources in Illinois also has a bat box plan available on line. If you search on google for "wood projects for Illinois wildlife" it should show up as the first link. I built it about 20 years ago and had some success with it.

I really don't remember much about it. I'm a little (lot) ADD and it started as high school 4-H project. First I built a squirrel house and had a lot of fun with that. That turned into a hour long class report on gardening for wildlife, mainly butterflies and birds. That turned into a bachelors degree in horticulture where I decided that I needed some bat guano and the easiest way to aquire some would be to put up a bat house where I learned:1. People believe that bat houses = rabies2. People believe that bat guano = rabies3. People call animal control because they believe bats = house cats with rabiesCollege is a little blurry, I don't know what became of the bat house. I did end up with some guano which worked really well as a soil ammendment. The squirrel house still exists 20 years later in a walnut tree at my grandmother's farm. I did discover that:* squirrels = more weed pulling in spring.I've often considered putting up some boxes in my back yard now that I'm older. I live in an urban area though and figure the bees make me enough of a nuisance neighbor at this point. ;) I have a rabbit that provides me with lots of good compost, and someday I'll convince my husband that a couple of bantam chicks will make good pets too (and provide good weed control in the garden).

I keep hoping that the "green" trendiness will translate into some increased tolerance in the wildlife that's around us. I see plenty of bats at night here with run down empty houses in this part of the world for habitat for them. I'd love to have them in the yard to eat mosquitoes though and to provide me with a nice bit of fertilizer. South St. Louis has plenty of flat rooves for mosquitoes to breed in puddles on and I'm more concerned about them than bats.

I've been interested in putting a bat house in my backyard for a while now. (I have a small backyard, so house would be in a tree not too far from the hives) Does anyone know if they would be detrimental to bees? I assume not, since bees do not leave the hives at night. But would like to double check just to make sure.

Thanks,Derrick

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I won't let grass grow under my feet, there will be plenty of time to push up daisies.

Put up Bat Houses 15 years ago. Still have them hanging on the side of the house. The ones in the woods are long gone. But for some reason they never attracted bats. But we had plenty in the area last year. Haven't had a night time cook out yet this year, thats when they always show up. Hope they do again this year.